No. 500. No. 500. Friday, October 3, 1712. Friday, October 3. Huc natas adjice septem, Et totidem juvenes, & mox generosque nurusque; 'Sir. You are YOU, who are so well acquainted with the Story of Socrates, must have read how, upon his making a Discourse_concerning Love, he pressed his Point with so much Success that all the Batchelors in his Audience took a Resolution to marry by the first Opportunity, and that all the married Men immediately took Horse and galloped home to their Wives. I am apt to think your Discourses, in which you have drawn so many agreeable Pictures of Marriage, have had a very good Effect this Way in England. We are obliged to you at least, for having taken off that senseless Ridicule, which for many Years the Witlins of the Town have turned upon their Fathers and Mothers. For my own Part, I was born in Wedlock, and I don't care who knows it: For which Reason, among many others, I should look upon my self as a most insufferable Coxcomb, did I endeavour to main tain that Cuckoldom was inseparable from Marriage, or to make use of Husband and Wife as Terms of Reproach. Nay, Sir, I will go one Step further, and declare to you before the whole World, that am a married Man, and at the same Time I have so much Assurance as not to be ashamed of what I have done, Among the several Pleasures that accompany this State of Life, and which you have described in your former Papers, there are two you have not taken Notice of, and which are seldom cast into the Account, by those who write on this Subject. You must have observed, in your Speculations on human Nature, that Nothing is more gratifying to the Mind of Man than Power or Dominion, and this I think my self amply possessed of, as I am the Father of a Family, I am perpetually taken up in giving out Orders, in prescribing Duties, in hearing Parties, in administring Justice, and in distributing Rewards and Punishments. To speak in the Language of the Centurion, I 1712. say unto one, go, and he goeth, and to another, come, No. 500. and he cometh, and to my Servant do this, and he doeth Friday, it. In short, Sir, I look upon my Family as a patriarchal October 3, Sovereignty, in which I am my self both King and Priest. All great Governments are Nothing else but Clusters of these little private Royalties, and therefore I consider the Masters of Families as small Deputy-Governors presiding over the several little Parcels and Divisions of their Fellow-Subjects. As I take great Pleasure in the Admin istration of my Government in Particular, so I look upon my self not only as a more useful, but as a much greater and happier Man than any Batchelor in England of my Rank and Condition, There is another accidental Advantage in Marriage, which has likewise fallen to my Share, I mean the having a Multitude of Children. These I cannot but regard as very great Blessings. When I see my little Troop before me, I rejoyce in the Additions which I have made to my Species, to my Country, and to my Religion, in having produced such a Number of reasonable Creatures, Citizens, and Christians. I am pleased to see my self thus perpetu ated, and as there is no Production comparable to that of an human Creature, I am more proud of having been the Occa sion of Ten such glorious Productions, than if I had built an hundred Pyramids at my own Expence, or published as many Volumes of the finest Wit and Learning, In what a beautiful Light has the holy Scripture repre sented Abdon, one of the Judges of Israel, who had Forty Sons, and Thirty Grandsons, that rode on three score and ten Ass-Colts, according to the Magnificence of the eastern Countries? How must the Heart of of the old Man rejoyce, when he saw such a beautiful Procession of his own Descendants, such a numerous Cavalcade of his own Raising? For my own Part, I can sit in my Parlour with great Content, when I take a Review of half a Dozen of my little Boys mounting upon Hobby-Horses, and of as many little Girls tutoring their Babies, each of them endeavouring to excel the rest, and to do Something that may gain my Favour and Appro bation, I cannot question but he who has blessed me with so many Children, will assist my Endeavours in providing IV. G No. 500, providing for them. There is one Thing I am able to Friday, give each of them, which is a virtuous Education. I October 3, think it is Sir Francis Bacon's Observation, that in a 1712. numerous Family of Children the eldest is often spoiled by the Prospect of an Estate, and the youngest by being the Darling of the Parent; but that some one or other in the Middle, who has not perhaps been regarded, has made his Way in the World, and overtopp'd the rest. It is my Business to implant in every one of my Children the same Seeds of Industry, and the same honest Principles. By this Means I think I have a fair Chance, that one or other of them may grow considerable in some or other Way of Life, whether it be in the Army, or in the Fleet, in Trade, or any of the three learned Professions; for you must know, Sir, that from long Experience and Observation, I am perswaded of what seems a Paradox to most of those with whom I converse, namely, that a Man who has many Children, and gives them a good Education, is more likely to raise a Family, than he who has but one, notwithstanding he leaves him his whole Estate. For this Reason I cannot forbear amusing my self with finding out a General, an Admiral, or an Alderman of London, a Divine, a Physician, or a Lawyer, among my little People who are now perhaps in Petticoats; and when I see the motherly Airs of my little Daughters when they are playing with their Puppets, I cannot but flatter my self that their Husbands and Children will be happy, in the Possession of such Wives and Mothers, If you are a Father, you will not perhaps think this Letter impertinent, but if you are a single Man, you will not know the Meaning of it, and probably throw it into the Fire: whatever you determine of it, you may assure your self that it comes from one who is Your most humble Servant, and Well-wisher, O Philogamus,' Saturday No. 501, Saturday, October 4. No. 501, 1712, Durum sed levius fit patientia, Quicquid corrigere est nefas,-Hor, S some of the finest Compositions among the As Ancients are in Allegory, I have endeavoured, in several of my Papers, to revive that Way of Writing, and hope I have not been altogether unsuccessful in it: For I find there is always a great Demand for those particular Papers, and cannot but observe that several Authors have endeavoured of late to excell in Works of this Nature, Among these, I do not know any one who has succeeded better than a very ingenious Gentleman, to whom I am obliged for the following Piece, and who was the Author of the Vision in the CCCCLXth Paper, O. How are we tortured with the Absence of what we covet to possess, when it appears to be lost to us! What Excursions does the Soul make in Imagination after it! And how does it turn into it self again, more foolishly fond and dejected, at the Disappointment! Our Grief, instead of having Recourse to Reason, which might restrain it, searches to find a further Nourishment. It calls upon Memory to relate the several Passages and Circumstances of Satisfactions which we formerly enjoy'd; the Pleasures we purchased by those Riches that are taken from us; or the Power and Splendour of our departed Honours; or the Voice, the Words, the Looks, the Temper and Affections of our Friends that are deceased. It needs must happen from hence, that the Passion shou'd often swell to such a Size as to burst the Heart which contains it, if Time did not make these Circumstances less strong and lively, so that Reason should become a more equal Match for the Passion, or if another Desire which becomes more present did not over-power them with a livelier Representation. These are Thoughts which I had when I fell into a Kind of Vision upon this Subject, and may therefore stand for a proper Introduction to a Relation of it. I found my self upon a naked Shore, with Company whose 810578 A No. 501. whose afflicted Countenances witnessed their Conditions. Saturday, Before us flowed a Water deep, silent, and called the October 4, River of Tears, which issuing from two Fountains on an 1712. upper Ground encompassed an Island that lay before us. The Boat which plied in it was old and shattered, having been sometimes overset by the Impatience and Haste of single Passengers to arrive at the other Side. This immediately was brought to us by Misfortune who steers it, and we were all preparing to take our Places, when there appeared a Woman of a mild and composed Behaviour, who began to deterre us from it, by repre senting the Dangers which would attend our Voyage, Hereupon some who knew her for Patience, and some of those too who 'till then cry'd the loudest, were per swaded by her, and return'd back. The rest of us went in, and she (whose Good-nature wou'd not suffer her to forsake Persons in Trouble) desired Leave to accompany us, that she might at least administer some small Comfort or Advice while we sailed. We were no sooner em barked but the Boat was pushed off, the Sheet was spread, and being filled with Sighs, which are the Winds of that Country, we made a Passage to the farther Bank, through several Difficulties of which the most of us seem'd utterly regardless, When we landed, we perceived the Island to be strangely overcast with Fogs, which no Brightness cou'd pierce, so that a Kind of gloomy Horror sat always brooding over it. This had Something in it very shocking to easie Tempers, insomuch that some others, whom Patience had by this Time gain'd over, left us here, and privily convey'd themselves round the Verge of the Island to find a Ford by which she told them they might escape, For my Part, I still went along with those who were for piercing into the Centre of the Place; and joyning our selves to others whom we found upon the same Journey, we marched solemnly as at a Funeral, through bordering Hedges of Rosemary, and through a Grove of Yew Trees, which love to over-shadow Tombs and flourish in ChurchYards. Here we heard on every Side the Wailings and Complaints of several of the Inhabitants, who had cast themselves disconsolately at the Feet of Trees; and as we |